Blair’s a starter for TEN
Cockerill gambles on Kinghorn at fly-half
EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill admits he’s taking a gamble by playing Blair Kinghorn at fly-half in tomorrow’s Heineken Champions Cup showdown with Racing 92 in Paris.
Rather than start with specialist ten Jaco van der Walt, he has instead switched Kinghorn from full-back in an attempt to take the game to the French giants.
With Finn Russell banned from playing for the hosts after his red card for Scotland last Friday, Cockerill believes Kinghorn can take advantage of the disruption caused to the French ranks by the absence of their star playmaker.
‘Finn is a wonderful player, one of the best in the world, and I’m happy he’s not playing because he makes them tick,’ said Cockerill. ‘He can create something from nothing. Without Finn, they have that little bit less X-factor and hopefully that will help us.
‘The headline is probably Blair starting at ten, which I thought was the best selection, going into the game with attitude and really taking the game to Racing. It’s an opportunity to put him there, take the gamble and go with a slightly more attacking mindset.
‘It could work very well, but it could cost us as they are a very dangerous team if you turn the ball over. But we’re going to go as hard as we can at them. I don’t think it’s a game for containing them and kicking points, so we’ll go with a positive mindset and play at them.
‘Ball in hand, Blair is a threat. He’s very off-the-cuff and creates opportunities because he is naturally instinctive and quick. Obviously, there are bits of game control that are lacking a bit because it’s not his natural position, but I thought it was the right decision for this week.
‘It’s a bold selection, but very much worth the risk as he is very instinctive when he gets front-foot ball. He is very dangerous and understands the game well. If there are opportunities to attack, he will see them and hopefully exploit them.
‘We wanted to get good minutes into Jaco last week against Dragons, but he had a dead leg and hasn’t been able to train till later this week so, for that reason as well, I felt it was right to pick Blair.
‘Keeping Blair at ten isn’t a long-term plan, although it will be an option if needed.’
With the return of all his Scotland internationals, Cockerill has made 12 changes to the team who lost to Dragons in their final Pro14 game last weekend.
Duhan van der Merwe, who was the top try scorer in the Six Nations, returns on the wing, as does Darcy Graham.
Hamish Watson was named Six Nations player of the championship and he is joined by Jamie Ritchie and Bill Mata in a mighty back row.
Dave Cherry, WP Nel and Pierre Schoeman make up the front row, with Grant Gilchrist being joined at lock by Magnus Bradbury.
George Taylor and James Johnstone are brought back into the midfield. The alterations mean Bradbury, Kinghorn and Henry Pyrgos are the only three players to be retained in the XV from last weekend.
‘We’re pleased to welcome back a number of quality players as our best is enough to compete with any team,’ said Cockerill. ‘We’ll need our best performance on Sunday, when we have a crack at one of the top teams in Europe.
‘How we deal with that challenge will be the mark of this group. We’ve had some great results against some of the big sides in France in the past, however we’re under no illusions about how big a challenge this will be.
‘It’s the kind of challenge any competitor would relish and we have some quality and individuals looking to do something special.’
RACING 92: Beale; Thomas, Vakatawa, Chavancy, Dupichot; Gibert, Machenaud; Arous, Chat, Gomes Sa; Le Roux, Ryan; Diallo, Chouzenoux, Joseph. EDINBURGH: Hoyland; Graham, Johnstone, Taylor, Van der Merwe; Kinghorn, Pyrgos; Schoeman, Cherry, Nel; Bradbury, Gilchrist; Ritchie, Watson, Mata. Kick-off: Tomorrow, 12.30pm. Live: BT Sport.